A Thousand Words
by DSLeo
Summary: Very AU in which Rachel returns to Stars Hollow but it's not the way she expected... LL ship early and often! Disclaimer: GG isn't mine. Duh.


A Thousand Words

Summary: An AU in which Rachel returns and finds matters are not what she expected… LL ship launches early! Happy holiday season!

GG GG GG

AN: Set in S1, utterly AU, because I needed a bit of fluff. Not the same AU as other of my fics, just I am lousy with OC names so stuck with what I already had.

GG GG GG

Across the street from Luke's diner stood a redhead with a camera.

It saved her from reality, that camera.

Reality showed her Luke Danes ( _hers!_ ) arguing ( _smiling_!) with a very pregnant blue-eyed brunette. The two kissed, laughed, and Luke passed the woman a milkshake.

From the door leading to the apartment ( _where she sleeps!_ ), a teen girl appeared, running. A moment after, around the counter came brunette boys, perhaps two years old, one in a green shirt, one in a blue shirt. The girl scooped up one, and a bespectacled Asian-looking girl dove in from nowhere, grabbing the other.

Laughing, the teens and their charges crossed the street into the town square. "Matt!" cried the Asian girl. "You wiggle worse than a white guy in the 1980s!"

The other girl set the blue-shirted boy on the ground. "Liam, no boo-boos!"

Seemingly exhausted, the teens dropped onto a bench. "Wow," said one. "I can _not_ believe your mother keeps up with them."

"Not since she had to swear off coffee again."

"So? Have they picked a name?"

"Well, William was for the hardware store…"

"That is _so_ Lorelai," said the Asian girl.

"Matthew because Dad liked it."

"Is it weird calling him that when your, y'know, DNA donor still shows up sometimes?"

"Nah. I mean, Mom's been with Luke since I was ten. I've seen more of him in the last few years than I've seen of Christopher Hayden in my whole…entire… _life_!" Exuberant hand gestures, captured by the camera, emphasized the girl's words. She bore a striking resemblance to the boys, and to the pregnant woman in the diner. "I'm just glad we can't hear them arguing. Mom's newest name idea is _Stella_."

"Rory! No!" squealed the Asian girl. "What about…"

"Maggie," agreed Rory. "I know, Lane, I like it too. Maggie. No Margaret, no Meggie, just Maggie. Like I'm Rory. I'm totally with Luke on this one."

They watched the toddlers amok in the six inches of snow coating the ground. Rachel turned her camera on the boys.

"Hey!"

Rachel startled violently.

Both girls were confronting her, hands on hips, while a large-bosomed woman clucked, "Here, honey and sweetie, Auntie Patty has you," to the boys.

"Who're you…" started Rory.

"And why are you taking pictures of…"

Patty called casually, "Hello, Rachel, dear."

"Don't let her move," ordered Rory, and Rachel found herself in the custody of a glaring Lane.

"Hi?" said Rachel. "How's it going?"

"A woman pervert, well, that's just great, like Courtney Love doesn't make us look bad and…"

"What?" sputtered Rachel, clueless.

"What do you mean, a…" came a familiar voice, which softened to a shocked, "Oh. Uh. Hey. Rachel. Uh. Hi."

The vivacious brunette glanced from Luke to Rachel, put out a hand, and said, "Hi. Lorelai Gilmore-Danes, I've heard so much about you, oh, oh my God, Luke, we have to give her your Rachel box!"

"My what?" said Rachel, lost in many seas at once.

"Stuff you left, in a box, labeled Rachel, the ex-box," said Lorelai in a cheerful but anxious ramble. "Um, I'll go do that and…"

"No, you don't," scolded Luke, a hand over Lorelai's belly. "You and Maggie need a nap."

"Stella," groused Lorelai.

"Maggie!"

Having gathered up the toddling boys, Luke and Lorelai, with Rory and Lane, retreated to the diner.

Rachel sat on the bench vacated by the girls.

A gusty, "Oh honey," told her that Miss Patty had taken a seat next to her.

"When?" asked Rachel, voice shaking. "When? He said forever!"

"Honey, _you_ said forever, and then you left. About six months later, he met Lorelai. And six months after that…" Patty patted Rachel's arm soothingly. "Well, the boys are honeymoon babies."

" _Babies_ ," echoed Rachel, stunned.

"Fraternal twins, but they don't act like it sometimes," chortled Patty. "Oh those eyes of theirs!" She fluttered a hand in front of her chest.

Rachel clung to denial. "But he… She's…"

Patty turned cold, and fierce. "Rachel. We like you. We do. But those two? Rescued each other. You have no idea…"

"He didn't want kids!"

"Well, he's going to have four of them."

"Four!"

"Of course," said Patty easily. "He adopted Rory. Why not? Her biological father is a deadbeat! Oops, time to go!"

Patty vanished with remarkable speed and stealth.

Luke appeared, with a cardboard box meticulously labeled "Luke's Rachel Box" in a foreign hand.

"It, uh, it's some stuff. Your sweatshirt and stuff. That you left. Last time. So," said Luke in a rush, hand rubbing his neck, "how've you been? I mean, we saw your stuff in _National Geographic_ …"

"Oh my God, Luke, what happened to waiting for me forever?!"

"What happened to coming back in a few weeks?" retorted Luke sharply, then lowered his voice. His head turned toward the diner, as if drawn by a magical force, named Lorelai. "And… She came in demanding six coffees just for her, and…" His smile grew misty, an experience new to Rachel. "We've been fixing up this old house by Babette's, and Rory's at Chilton, she got in on academics, and we weren't really planning another baby but, hey, y'know…"

"Jam hands," spat Rachel. "Suckers. Mess."

Luke drew back and set the box carefully on the bench by Rachel. "Things change, Rachel. Look, just don't cause trouble, okay? Lorelai's always super-insecure… Well, _always_ …. But especially insecure when she's pregnant. Just… Stop by, say hi, that's fine, just… I'm good, Rachel. _We're_ good."

Rachel pulled the box into her lap. She nodded wordlessly.

Before she left the town square, she snapped a last photo, of Luke, Lorelai, Rory, the boys, laughing at some small domestic mess that in olden days meant curses and snarls from Luke Danes. The light shone off his plain wedding band, as he tucked hair behind Lorelai's ear.

Rachel pondered that killing detail, and, as she had done so often, left Stars Hollow. A picture was worth a thousand words, and each word in that last photo said: _We are happy_.

GG GG GG

AN: The actual drabble text should be exactly 1000 words. I dunno why. I'm just weird.

BTW, the comment about fraternal twins not acting like it? Was said of fraternal twins I knew. DNA not the same, but they *acted* identical.


End file.
